Terrorism row: David Cameron refuses to back down on Pakistan terrorism remarks

David Cameron will not apologise for his comments about Pakistan exporting
terrorism when he meets the country’s president for talks this week.

David Cameron has refused to retract remarks he made while visiting India

By Andrew Porter, Political Editor

6:45AM BST 02 Aug 2010

The Prime Minister provoked outrage in Pakistan when, during a trip to India last week, he said Islamabad could not “look both ways” when it came to tackling terrorism. Some Pakistani politicians urged Asif Ali Zardari to cancel his meeting with Mr Cameron in protest, but the visit will go ahead.

Mr Zardari arrived in Paris last night. He will travel to London tomorrow and meet Mr Cameron at Chequers on Friday. Downing Street stressed that Mr Cameron would not back away from his remarks about Pakistan promoting “the export of terror” and he would not apologise. “He stands by his comments,” a senior source said. “We are not looking to inflame the situation and we made clear that his comments were not directed at the Pakistan government, but what he said was clear. We are glad the president’s trip is going ahead and we are looking forward to the talks.”

The talks are certain to be tense. Qamar Zaman Kaira, Pakistan’s information minister, said at the weekend that Mr Zardari would seek to correct Mr Cameron’s “misperception” when they met. A meeting between Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency and British security experts was cancelled in protest after the Prime Minister’s comments.

David Miliband, the shadow foreign secretary, stepped up his attack on Mr Cameron yesterday, saying he should have recognised Pakistan’s suffering at the hands of terrorists and its democratic progress over recent years, rather than highlighting allegations of covert support for the Taliban in Afghanistan.

On Saturday, Mr Zardari is expected at a rally of his governing Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Birmingham, where, according to reports in his homeland, he is planning to launch the political career of his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

The 21-year-old, who completed a history degree at Christ Church, Oxford, in June, has been under special protection by Thames Valley police since the assassination of his mother, Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s former prime minister, in December, 2007. He was appointed the PPP’s nominal president a few days after his mother’s murder.